Love Conquers All
by rylew
Summary: Helga finds she isn't the only mercenary to have survived. Ratings may go up.
1. Cheating Death

**Reedited.**

**Disclaimer: I own only the made up characters. Everyone else belongs to Disney.**

"Rourke!" Helga screamed as she fell down the shaft.

"Nothing personal," Rourke sarcastically called out. He didn't hear Milo coming in from behind. Milo swung in and slammed hard into Rourke. They both tumbled down the gyro-evac before landing on the engine platform. Rourke was the first to recover.

"You know Thatch, I really got to hand it to you. You're a real pain in the neck than I ever thought possible."

Milo lunged out and tried to punch him, but Rourke easily caught it with one hand and sent it back into Milo's face. Rourke then gave a side kick, knocking Milo off the platform. Milo caught a piece of railing, which hung loose between the moving propellers.

"I usually consider myself an easy-tempered man. It takes a lot to get underneath my skin. But congratulations, you just won the golden cupid doll," Rourke reached into the emergency fire equipment case and pulled out a fire axe. He swung it down but missed. Glass flew in all directions as the axe smashed against the pod window.

Milo noticed the glass had been touched by the crystal. He quickly reached out and grabbed the nearest piece.

"Getting tired Mr. Thatch? That's too bad cause I was just getting warmed up," said Rourke. He reached down and grabbed Milo by the cuff of his shirt.

Milo could see the insanity in Rourke's eyes as he raised the axe. He would have just one chance at this...

From the truck, the troopers continued fighting the Atlantean armada. But their guns were no match to the Atlantean's awesome firepower. One of the troopers gave out a cry of pain as razor jagged pieces of glass rained down on him. He looked down at his hands and saw they had strange blue markings on them.

What in the world?

His thoughts were then interrupted when another trooper cried, "Look out!"

A martag speeder shot out a burst of lightning at them, blowing the truck apart. Only one trooper survived. Somehow, he found himself unscathed.

The whole shaft suddenly began to shake. He had to get out of here before the volcano erupted. Jumping off the wrecked truck, he ran across the shaft towards where the burnt camp was. There was a deep wide canal there where the bridge had collapsed. If he could just cross over it, he might have a chance to escape the lava flow.

The mercenary suddenly stumbled onto the lieutenant, who was lying unconscious and still clutching her flare gun. For a moment he pondered on whether he should leave her or not. Carrying her would slow down his progress. He sighed. Having made up his mind, he hoisted her onto his shoulders and continued running towards the ledge. He was dead anyway. He might as well die a noble cause.

The ground was already breaking open beneath him. His legs screamed with pain. Ignoring it, the trooper urged himself to keep running. Years of intense training enabled him to counter all sorts of extreme situations. Even so, none of the training could save him from this awesome force of nature.

He could feel the scorching heat of the lava as it closed in behind him. He was almost there when he all of a sudden lost his footing and fell forward, nearly dropping the lieutenant from his shoulders. He braced himself, finally giving in to his fate.

So this is where it ends.

Nothing happened.

To his amazement, he saw the lava was flowing around him. He then he saw why. Somehow, an invisible shield had formed around him, protecting him from the lava. He felt a tingly sensation on his hands. Looking down, he saw that the blue markings on them were glowing.

**I can't wait for the next chapter. Any ideas would help. Oh yeah, and please review.**


	2. Reunion

**Yeah, I thought the original chapter could use some more work so I re-wrote it. Have fun and please R and R (Read and Review).**

**Chapter 2:**

* * *

Layers of ash and hardened lava covered the entire cavern, creating a grotesque scene. A sphere sat in the center of the chamber. A crack of blue light suddenly erupted from its side. More lights shined through and with a radiance of blue the entire sphere crumbled open, revealing a shallow pit.

A masked helmet peered from the edge of the opening. Seeing no threat, he hefted the woman onto his shoulders and emerged out of the hole. The volcanic gas made the air fatal to inhale. Fortunately he happened to be wearing a gas mask but he knows it won't last long due to his limited air tank. Helga, on the other hand, was already in a desperate situation since she wore no gas mask.

He scanned the chamber. The first thing he noticed was that the air was _hot_. His face was already streaking with sweat. He could even taste the ash which covered everything like soot. It was more like being in a winter wonderland. Any trace of the remaining battlements had been erased, replaced by ash and hardened lava. He didn't have to guess what happened to his units. No one could have survived the eruption. So how was it that he was still alive?

Had he imagined the whole thing? He looked at his hands. The markings were still there although the blue colors had already faded. He gave out a grunt of disgust.

He would have to dwell on that situation later. Right now his first priority is to find a way out of this chamber. Although the city was most likely destroyed, it should still be able to provide fresh drinking water until he can figure a way out of this place. He trudged through the ash, being careful to use his air sparingly. The ash was knee deep, sometimes rising to his chest.

Helga kept coughing and gagging from inhaling the volcanic fumes. Sometimes she would moan, "I'm going to kill you Rourke!" She was losing it. He didn't even know why he was still carrying her. She was only hindering his pace.

An hour passed by. His air tank was already over three quarters empty. Climbing uphill had already made it more difficult and he wasn't even halfway towards the city.

He was almost there. He could recognize the formations, indicating he was near the exit.

He picked up his pace. His heart began to pound wildly in his chest. The opening was just ahead. But why wasn't any air coming through? He then saw it.

He had reached the opening all right. Only the mouth happened to be sealed off.

The bottom half was packed up with hardened lava. The top half must have caved-in after the process.

Fear gripped him. Had he survived a deadly cataclysm only to die a slow, agonizing, suffocating death?

He was pondering the moment when a loud screech echoed from the caverns. He set Helga upright against the wall.

His senses alert, he scanned the cavern. There were scampering sounds coming from above. He looked up, only to see nothing but rock walls from his head beam's lights.

He could have sworn something had just been up there.

Taking his Springfield, he checked that it was loaded before unlatching the safety. He didn't have to go far before his senses began to scream out at him. He jumped sideways just in time as something crashed down from the ceiling.

A large insect-like creature stood where he had been standing.

The thing was huge.

It had six legs with spikes at the joints along with six arms, the forward most of which have small grasping claws. A forked horn protruded from its forehead. It possessed a pair of large serrated mandibles that can actually be used to saw prey in half. As if these formidable weapons were not enough, the creature also has a long, tapering tail with a cruel blade at the end. The creature was an earthy color with muddy yellows, browns and greens, with bright red eyes.

He had seen this creature before. When Thatch took the wrong fork on the road, he almost led them right into one of these creatures' dens.

The creature snarled at him. Saliva oozed down from its mouth. Bellowing out a loud roar, the creature charged, its claws and fangs poised to strike.

The mercenary fired a couple of shots but the cave beast seemed to shrug them off. He fired another shot before stepping out of its way.

The creature swerved around, glaring at him. It raised its tail before swinging its massive blade at his head. The mercenary ducked and fired another shot. He fell backwards and was forced to roll away as the tail swung towards the ground. The creature suddenly pinned him with its claws before grabbing him with its mandibles. Sharp pain seared at his sides before he was thrown against the rock wall.

He then spotted the opening the creature had made in the ceiling. Grabbing Helga's flare gun, he unlatched the safety, steadied his aim, and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud _pop_ as the flare rocket streaked its way through the caverns before blowing straight into the ceiling.

The ceiling gave way. Debris rained down as it piled on top of the creature.

He shielded himself. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea.

As soon as the debris stopped falling he waited for a few minutes for the dust to settle. The cave creature was completely buried beneath the rubble.

He gave out a huge sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was focus on getting out of here. The rubble suddenly started to shake.

The beast clawed its way out of the pile before giving out a loud screech. He saw its eyes, which burned with anger. If this thing could talk, it would be swearing at him as if there were no tomorrow.

It shook angrily and charged at him.

"Great," he muttered. He barely managed to jump out of its path before the beast crashed into the sealed opening. Like a possessed bull it repeatedly smashed itself against the rock wall.

And then there was an opening, just large enough for a man to squeeze through. Taking the opportunity, the mercenary sprinted forward, grabbed the lieutenant, and crawled through the opening.

A few claws grabbed at Helga's boots. Taking out his sidearm, the mercenary squeezed out a shot and got an angry screech as the claws let go. He dragged Helga out of the opening and out onto the open air.

He lay there, feeling a sense of triumph. He made it. He had survived the impossible but he somehow made it.

"Mehmeddemotag?"

Frowning, he sat up and found himself facing mask-to-mask with several startled warriors.

A sharp blow landed in the back of his head. His vision blurred into blackness.


End file.
